Todd Blanche’s Confirmation Hearing Is a Loyalty Test

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss how the confirmation hearing for Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is yet another example of Trump trying to force Congress to bend the knee, what is behind the horrific ICE killings of two men this week and what can be done about it, and the details of a new multi-state antitrust lawsuit to block the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger led by guest California AG Rob Bonta. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Jeremy Roebuck for The Washington Post: Blanche to face skeptics in GOP after judge’s scathing criticism Richard Rubin and C. Ryan Barber for The Wall Street Journal: Judge Says Trump Tried to Manipulate Legal System With IRS Lawsuit John McCormack for The Dispatch: The Todd Blanche Confirmation Will Be About Everything and Nothing Jonathan Chait for The Atlantic: William Barr’s Dangerous Endorsement of Todd Blanche Darlene Superville, Patrick Whittle, Jack Brook, Rebecca Santana, and Michael R. Sisak for Associated Press: ICE should do traffic stops despite recent shootings, Trump says, seeming to oppose new suspension Nick Miroff for The Atlantic: The Shooter in Maine Was a New ICE Recruit Aaron Blake for CNN: Analysis: Killings by immigration agents were a big problem for Trump — and now they’re back Caitlin Dewey for Vox: The ICE crackdown never ended David Kurtz for Talking Points Memo: The Federal Cover-Up of Three Minnesota Shootings Finally Unravels Juliette Kayyem for Early Warning (Substack): ICE is Killing People. Abolishing It Isn’t Enough. Adrian Carrasquillo for The Bulwark: ICE’s New Permanent Family Separation: Killing Latino Fathers Dave Michaels and Joe Flint for The Wall Street Journal: Can a Dozen Blue States Block the Paramount-Warner Merger? Rob Bonta for Variety: Why I’m Suing to Block the Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger (Guest Column) Dan Pfeiffer for The Message Box (Substack): Trump’s Stunning Admission About CNN Here are this week’s chatters: CA AG Rob Bonta: Rafaela Jinich for The Atlantic: The Surprising Unity of Soccer; Julia Dhar for Time: The World Cup’s Strangest Rituals Reveal How Belonging Really Works; Conor O’Neill for The Athletic: Lionel Messi has spent 63% of this World Cup walking — but he is always ready to pounce Emily: Scott Bomboy for National Constitution Center: The vote that led to the 19th Amendment; National Park Service: Harry T. Burn; University of Tennessee Libraries: Women’s Suffrage (Special Collections): 19th Amendment John: Gabfest Reads with John Dickerson: Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan Share What They’ve Learned in Trump’s Second Term (YouTube video 49:36); Chris Simms for Nature: Mathematics formula found on Maya wall rivals insights of ancient masters; Garry Shaw for The Art Newspaper: Name of ancient Maya astronomer-mathematician deciphered for the first time David: Sonya Dymova for Bloomberg: CIA Says AI Drones Give Russian Troops Only 30 Minutes to Live; Ivana Kottasová and Victoria Butenko for CNN: Facing a lack of Russian recruits, Moscow is accused of using deception and bribery to sign up foreigners to fight in Ukraine Listener chatter from Jay Framson in Altadena, California: Ben Cohen for The Wall Street Journal: This Simple White Line Is America’s Greatest Unsung Innovation For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss what voters deserve to know about the health and aging of our lawmakers, including the nuances of missing legislators versus executive officers, how political pressure from voters could encourage transparency and accountability, and possible solutions like term limits. In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily Bazelon talks with Senator Chris Murphy about his new book, Crisis of the Common Good: The Fight for Meaning and Connection in a Broken America. Murphy lays out a provocative agenda for Democrats to call Americans to national service, break up corporate power, rebuild local communities, and create a bigger tent that reaches disaffected conservatives hungry for change. Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Jay Cockburn Research by Emily Ditto You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here. Want more Political Gabfest? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Political Gabfest show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or visit slate.com/gabfestplus to get access wherever you listen. Find out more about David Plotz’s monthly tours of Ft. DeRussy, the secret Civil War fort hidden in Rock Creek Park.